Nonsnag footer hookup bar



Au 12, 1941. F. w, JR 2,52,048

NONSNAG FOOTER HOOKUP BAR I Filed Oct. 19, 1940 INVENTOR 3 QR NCIS TAITJFq Patented Aug. 12, 1941 2 Claims. (01. 66149) In the manufacture of ladies full fashioned stockings the leg blank is first knitted on a. machine known as a legger. After the leg blank has been completely knitted it is topped onto a transfer bar and transferred to the machine known as the footer where the foot of the stocking is to be knit. In connection with the knitting of the foot a hook-up or draw bar is used which is provided with hooks engaging the fabric of the leg at the lower end thereof and which is also provided with a slot which engages a strap which is wound as the knitting progresses to maintain the fabric taut. One form of the hook-up or draw bar and its manner of application is clearly illustrated in the Fulmer Patent No. 1,838,055 of December 22, 1931.

The hooks on conventional hook-up bars of this character are necessarily thin so as to engage the delicate fabric of sheer stockings without damage and are therefore fragile and breakable. To this end it is necessary to secure the hooks to the draw bar in an easily detachable manner and the conventional practice has been to provide the hooks at their rear ends with rings or eyelets and to fasten the hooks in position on the bar by means of screws engaging the eyelets at the rear ends of the hooks and corresponding threaded openings in the bar itself. As is well known, when the head of a screw is engaged by a screw driver and pressure is applied to tighten the screw sufficiently, the edges of the slot in the head of the screw are more or less out or roughened thus presenting jagged edges which snag the fabric of the stocking leg which may come in contact with them thus causing tears and runs.

Conventional hook-up or draw bars of this character at one time had four hooks with four fastening screws and, as an improvement and in order to minimize the number of screws the jagged edges of which would cause damage, the type of hook or bar in the Fulmer patent referred to, as well as other forms, have been developed in which a pivotal arm sheathed in rubher or other soft and frictional material is employed to clamp the central portion of the end of the leg of the stocking but even in the improved forms of hook bars referred to there remained two outer hooks one at each end which are still secured in position by means of screws.

It is therefore the object of my invention to provide improved means for fastening the hooks to a hook-up or draw bar in such a manner as to protect the heads of the screws at all times and guard against the fabric of the stocking being snagged by the edges of the slots of the screws as the latter are damaged by the action of the screw driver.

The full nature of my invention will be more clearly understood from the following specification and the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 represents a conventional hook-up bar embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 represents, on an enlarged scale, a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 represents a view similar to Fig. 2 showing a modified formof construction.

Fig. 4 represents a view similar to Fig. 2 showing a further modified form of construction.

Referring to the drawing in which like reference characters indicate like parts, 6 designates a hook-up or draw bar which is provided with the slot 8 which engages the conventional tensioning strap (not shown). it designates hooks which are provided with rear eyelets l2, and I4 designates the screws which are conventionally used for securing the hooks ill to the bar 6, it being understood that the screws Ill engage threaded openings It in the bar 6. As above stated, when the slot in the head of the screw M is engaged by a screw driver, the edges l s become roughened and jagged and in order to prevent any contact thereof with the fabric of the stocking I have devised the cup-shaped guard 20, the upper edges 22 of which are well above the upper edges [8 of the head of the screw. The guard 20 is provided with a bottom wall 25 which is provided with an aperture through which the stem of the screw it passes. The screw driver is admitted through the upper open end of the guard 20 in order to tighten the screw it. The fabric of the stocking being handled thus only comes in contact with the smooth, upper edges 22 of the guard 20 and is at all times prevented from any contact with the jagged edges it of the screw Hi. It will be seen that my invention is applicable to the form of hook-up bar 8 as shown in Fig. 1 and which is provided with four hooks l0, and that my invention is equally applicable to the form of hook-up bar shown in the Fulmer patent above mentioned, or to forms of hook-up bars similar thereto in which only the hooks at the extreme ends of the bar are used and are secured by the screws M.

In Fig. 3 I have shown another form of construction in which, instead of fastening the hooks H] by means of screws, I solder them directly to the bar 6 as at 26.

In Fig. 4 I have shown a still further modification of my invention in which, instead of the screws I4 or the soldering 24, I utilize the rivets 28. While the forms shown in Figs. 3 and 4 are satisfactory in that they eliminate the rough and jagged edges of the screw heads, these forms are not as desirable as the embodiment illustrated in Fig. 1 due to the fact that the replacement of the hooks necessitates the melting of the solder in Fig. 3 and the cutting away of the rivet in Fig. 4. The upper edges 22 of the guard 20, as well as the upper edges of the rivets 2B are preferably rounded or at least smooth so as to insure against snagging of the fabric which may come in contact therewith during the knitting of the stocking or the like. In the event that the hook I!) is soldered in position as at26, the upper surface is sand-papered or otherwise smoothed down.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A hook-up bar for knitting machines comprising a bodymemb'er having an opening therein, a fabric engaging hook having an eyelet formed at one end thereof, a screw engaging the eyelet of said hook and the opening in said bar for securing said hook to said bar, and a cupshaped member carried by said screw and, extending above the head of said screw to prevent contact of the fabric with the head of said screw.

2. A hook-up bar for knitting machines comprising a body member having an opening therein, a fabric engaging hook having an eyelet at the rear end thereof, a cup-shaped device having an opening in the bottom thereof registering with the bottom of said hook and the opening in said body member, and a screw passing through the opening in said cup-shaped device, the eyelet of said hook and the opening in said bar for securing said hook to said bar, the head of said screw being disposed well below the upper edge of said cup-shaped device, whereby the fabric engaged by said hook is prevented from coming into contact with the head of said screw.

FRANCIS TAIT, JR. 

